Account administrators and principal investigators correct errors
or clear overdrafts by requesting transfer of direct charges between funding
sources. The following procedures require prompt correction of the errors
or overdrafts. See also 30.21.

Forms

Expenditure Transfer Request

Use an Expenditure Transfer Request form to make an expenditure
transfer that does not involve salaries.

Expense Assignment Action

Use an Expense Assignment Action (see 58.03)
or a Position Action (see 58.02)
to make a salary transfer.

STATE ACCOUNTS

Transferring charges from or to state accounts.

Programs

State accounts include accounts in programs 01 through 10 and
programs 15 and above. (For a definition of program see 30.05.)

Deadlines

Initiate a nonpayroll transfer request within 90 days
of the original charge's date as shown in the online Account Balances/Detail
Application. Expenditures incurred in a given fiscal year cannot be transferred
after the July cutoff date following year-end.

Payroll must receive a wage transfer request within 30 working days
of the charge's date as shown in the online Account Balances/Detail Application.
NOTE: This time limit applies to transfers involving state accounts in programs
01 through 10 only.

SPONSORED ACCOUNTS

Transferring charges from or to sponsored accounts.

Programs

Sponsored accounts include accounts in programs 11 through 14.

Requirements

Departments should avoid frequent, late, or inadequately explained
transfers to sponsored projects. Personnel are to ensure that expenditures
are initially assigned to the correct account. Sponsored Programs Services will not
transfer a given expenditure more than once.

Do not transfer expenditures from one sponsored account to another for any
of the following reasons:

Clearing an overdraft. (NOTE: A transfer between a home account and
a subaccount may be acceptable.)

Avoiding restrictions imposed by law.

Avoiding restrictions in a sponsored agreement.

Convenience.

Such expenditures may only be transferred to a state-supported account in
programs 01-10 or to other appropriate nonfederal funding sources.

Expenditure transfers are allowable between closely related
projects when the transfer meets all of the conditions specified in the
sponsor's policies or guidelines or award terms and conditions. The following
conditions are typical for an allowable transfer:

The projects are scientifically and technically related, and

The projects are under the direction of the same principal investigator,
and

There is no change in the scope of the individual projects involved,
and

The transfer is not detrimental to each individual project, and

The transfer is not used to circumvent the terms and conditions of
an individual award.

Overdrafts

On occasion, one of the following situations occurs, causing
a sponsored account to be exceeded. Overdrafts happen while awaiting supplemental
funding, awaiting expenditure transfers to nonfederal funding sources at
account closeout, and/or awaiting expenditure transfers from subaccounts
to home accounts or home accounts to subaccounts. Refer to overdraft procedures
in 30.21 for additional information.

Terminated Accounts

Departments may transfer overdrafts from terminated sponsored
accounts to state accounts or other appropriate nonsponsored accounts by
using object-subobject 03-WV.

When using this object/subobject, it is not necessary to itemize each direct
cost transaction. Under Justification enter explanation #1. (See
below for a description of justifications.) In such cases, Sponsored
Programs Services should be contacted prior to coding the account
since a transfer may impact sponsor billings.

Deadlines

90 Days

Sponsored Programs Services must receive the request
within 90 days of the transaction date of the original charge as shown in
the online Account Balances/Detail Application.

Exceptions

Route deadline exception requests to the Sponsored Programs
Services Officer for approval. Explain why the transfer was not initiated
in time to meet the 90-day deadline and what internal control procedures
have been implemented to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

Expenditure Reports

If a sponsor's final expenditure report is upcoming, submit
a transfer request in time for the transfer to be posted at least 30 days
prior to the due date. See also 40.03
for expenditure deadlines.

EXPENDITURE TRANSFER REQUEST

Obtaining Forms

Obtain supplies of the paper form from University Stores (US item #49882),
complete and/or print the PDF form on 30.25.9, or obtain an approved electronic
form template from Procedures, Records, and Forms.

Preparation

Instruction numbers correspond to numbers on the samples. Sections
without numbers are considered self-explanatory.

Enter the coding for account(s) which originally incurred the
expenditure. Account coding includes: program, budget, project, object,
and subobject. Also enter other requested information regarding the transaction,
i.e., document and reference numbers, the amount, vendor number, and vendor
name. This information is available from the online Account Balances/Detail
Application or the Budget Statement.

Amount for Wages

Enter gross pay under Amount when making wage
transfers. Refer to the Budget Statement, the online Account Balances/Detail
Application, or the Payroll Expenditure Audit Report (PEAR) for gross pay.
(See 55.22
for a description of the PEAR.)

For work study transfers, enter only the departmental charge in Amount.

Do not include charges for benefits in Amount. Benefits are automatically
calculated and included by Payroll.

Transfer To: (3)

Enter the coding for account(s) which will assume the expenditure
and enter Amount for each account. The remaining fields on this
line need not be completed.

Wage Transfers (4)

Enter the requested information for the employee. Transfer
wages for only one employee per form. Transfers involving multiple employees
require multiple forms.

Payroll Dates

Enter the dates (begin and end) of the period worked by the
employee. Costs of hours worked during this period are to be transferred.

Hours Worked

Enter the number of hours worked.

Justification/Explanation (5)

Enter the number of the explanation that best describes the
reason for the expenditure transfer. The transferred expenditure must be
an allowable, allocable and reasonable expense for the account receiving
the expenditure. NOTE: The originating department must retain sufficient
documentation to support transfer allowability to future auditors.

The purpose of the expenditure transfer is one of the following:

To remove an overdraft of a terminated sponsored project by
transferring expense(s) to a state or local project. (Use object-subobject
03-WV.)

To move an expense from one state or local project to another state
or local project. Example: To equipment replacement funds, Virtual University
funds, a gift account. Additional justification is not required.

To correct a typographical error. Example: A data entry error
caused the wrong account code to be entered. The error was found when the
principal investigator reviewed periodic accounting reports.

To correct an account coding error. Example: A principal investigator
has multiple awards and the wrong project number or object code for this
expense was given to the account administrator. The error was found when
the principal investigator reviewed periodic accounting reports.

To redistribute a high number of low cost individual or minor charges.
Example: Copy machine rental, paper costs, telephone charges, mailing charges,
or office supplies were billed to departmental accounts, but a portion of
the total applies to a sponsored project. (NOTE: Telephone, mailing, and
office supply costs must be in the proposal budget as approved by the sponsor.)

If an expenditure is identifiable as an entry in Account Balances/Detail,
a reference is required. If not identifiable, departments must maintain
internal records/logs of such usage to support the adjustment. Provide details
on the Expenditure Transfer Request.

To record a change in the original decision as to the use of
the goods or services. Example: A case of beakers originally charged to
a teaching program are subsequently transferred to a research project. The
requestor is certifying that the expenditures are appropriate charges to
the recipient account.

To record a transfer between interrelated accounts. These expenditures
are being transferred between interrelated accounts. Sponsor guidelines
and procedures have been followed in determining interrelatedness. (NOTE:
The process for establishing interrelatedness varies among sponsors.)

Other reasons. Explain how the error occurred, and how the
costs will benefit the funding source.

The above explanations are not all inclusive. If the reason for the transfer
is not adequately described in the first seven explanations, include a detailed
explanation indicating how the error occurred and how the costs will benefit
the funding source receiving the expense. An explanation which merely states
that the transfer is being made to "correct an error," or to "transfer
to the correct account," or "to correct costs that were inadvertently
charged to an incorrect account" is not sufficient.

Principal Investigator (6)

The principal investigator responsible for the sponsored project
which will receive the expenditure signs the request. This line is usually
left blank when transferring expenditures to state accounts.

Administrator (7)

An authorized departmental or administrative representative
from the department which assumes the expenditure signs the request. This
representative must have been delegated expenditure authority for the supporting
account. See 70.02
for an explanation of expenditure authority.

Effort Certification (8)

Complete this section when transferring a temporary employee's
wages to an account in programs 06-14.

The certification statement is signed by a supervisor or administrator who
signed the employee's Daily Activity Report and who has firsthand knowledge
of the expended effort.